Rights Vs. Liberty

I’m tired of hearing liberals quote Benjamin Franklin to attack our president. I’ve heard it on television and in speeches. The quote is; “They that can give up essential liberty for a temporary safty, deserve neither liberty nor safety .” The attack is against the President’s approval of listening in on conversations with terrorists. The assumption made by the attacker is that liberty meant to Benjamin Franklin that a right to privacy existed. It did not. In fact, we read in the Declaration of Independence

“We hold these Truths to be self evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

We can clearly see here that Liberty, as it was defined at the time, was one right. Not a catch-all phrase meant to include any right that we can imagine. In Webster’s 1828 dictionary liberty was defined as follows:

“Freedom from restraint, in a general sense, and applicable to the body, or to the will or mind. The body is at liberty, when not confined; the will or mind is at liberty, when not checked or controlled. A man enjoys liberty, when no physical force operates to restrain his actions or volitions.”

Today we sometimes hear the word liberties used in place of the word rights. This meaning would be foreign to Ben Franklin.

Even today, liberty and the right to privacy are not the same. I have the liberty to travel anywhere in the country. But I can’t get on a plane without having my carry-on bag x-rayed. The contents of my carry-on is my private business isn’t it? I’ve lost my imagined right to privacy, but not my liberty. (Unless I attempt to bring a gun on the plane in which case I’ll lose my liberty as well.) And isn’t x-raying my bag contrary to the fourth amendment which protects me against unreasonable searches? I guess we must think it reasonable to search people as they get on a plane. And polls indicate that most Americans think it’s reasonable to listen in on calls to potential terrorists. Did I say potential? Yes! When I get on a plane I am a potential threat (not really) so my bag is searched. It is okay with me to listen in even if they are only potential terrorists. But, just so we’re clear. When Roosevelt rounded up the Japanese-Americans during World War II, that was a violation of liberty. Taking away the right to live or go where you please, imprisoning someone, is taking away their liberty.

To me, the greatest example of liberty is the gift of free-agency from our Creator. We have the freedom to do in this life as we wish. But this great liberty comes with no right to privacy. They are simply not the same thing. So, the next time you hear Ben Franklin quoted, make sure his words are not being distorted into something he never meant. Liberty is a right. But not all rights, real or imagined, are liberty.